The nature of our business closely links Constellation Energy to the natural resources we share with neighbors around our facilities. We continue to work to earn the trust of the communities where we do business by designing, building, and operating our facilities in ways designed to protect the environment.
Constellation Energy Environmental Policy and Principals
Constellation Energy believes proper care of the environment is essential to the well-being of our corporation, its employees, its neighbors and the broader global community. We are committed to protecting the environment and responsibly managing natural resources.
Constellation Energy has made major environmental investments and improvements at its generation facilities, continuing to focus on those improvements that deliver the greatest benefits to public health and welfare. In the last few years alone, the company has spent more than $190 million on emission-reducing equipment and upgrades at its facilities and continues to evaluate new technologies. Over the past 10 years, we’ve spent more than a quarter billion dollars to make our air cleaner.
Nuclear energy is America's largest source of clean-air, carbon-free electricity, producing no greenhouse gases or air pollutants. The industry's commitment to the environment extends to protecting wildlife and their habitats.
Clean-Air Benefits of Nuclear Energy
Nuclear power plants aid compliance with the Clean Air Act of 1970, which set standards to improve the nation's air quality. Using more nuclear energy gives states additional flexibility in complying with clean-air requirements.
Climate Change Initiatives
Federal, state and local policymakers increasingly recognize nuclear energy's contribution to meeting growing electricity demand while reducing greenhouse-gas emissions.
Life-Cycle Emissions Analysis
Nuclear power plants do not emit criteria pollutants or greenhouse gases when they generate electricity. The life-cycle emissions from nuclear energy are comparable to other non-emitting sources of electricity like wind, solar and hydropower.
Ecology
Nuclear energy has one of the lowest impacts on the environment of any energy source because it does not emit air pollution, isolates its waste from the environment and requires a relatively small amount of land.
Sustainable Development
Nuclear energy has a vital role to play in providing clean energy for sustainable economic development around the world.
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission – Environmental Monitoring Program
The U.S. NRC has a rigorous environmental monitoring program. As part of the U.S. NRC's requirements for operating a nuclear power plant, the licensee must:
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Keep releases of radioactive material to unrestricted areas during normal operation as low as reasonably achievable (as described in the Commission's regulations in 10 CFR Part 50.36a), and
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Comply with radiation dose limits for the public (10 CFR Part 20).
In addition, U.S. NRC regulations require licensees to have various effluent and environmental monitoring programs to ensure that the impacts from plant operations are minimized.
